Crystal Palace are braced to be without their player of the year, Wilfried Zaha, for up to five weeks in the new year after the twice-capped England international expressed his intention to declare for Ivory Coast before the Africa Cup of Nations.

Hosts Gabon were handed a favourable draw for January’s Africa Cup of Nations, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s side to face Cameroon, Burkina Faso and the debutants Guinea-Bissau in Group A while the heavyweights Algeria and Senegal will face off in Group B.

The first time I met Stephen Keshi was in 2002. He was lying on a sun-lounger by a pool in a hotel in Bamako and I was one of about a dozen journalists crouched at his feet, eager for the views of the great centre-back turned assistant coach. The next time I saw him, four years later, he was fighting Emmanuel Adebayor on a bus in Cairo.

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Crystal Palace are braced to be without their player of the year, Wilfried Zaha, for up to five weeks in the new year after the twice-capped England international expressed his intention to declare for Ivory Coast before the Africa Cup of Nations.

Hosts Gabon were handed a favourable draw for January’s Africa Cup of Nations, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s side to face Cameroon, Burkina Faso and the debutants Guinea-Bissau in Group A while the heavyweights Algeria and Senegal will face off in Group B.

The first time I met Stephen Keshi was in 2002. He was lying on a sun-lounger by a pool in a hotel in Bamako and I was one of about a dozen journalists crouched at his feet, eager for the views of the great centre-back turned assistant coach. The next time I saw him, four years later, he was fighting Emmanuel Adebayor on a bus in Cairo.